What Is a Metastasectomy?

Cancers can be either present in the body as solid masses of cells, or they can be scattered throughout the body. Solid tumors usually appear in one place first, where one cell mutates and divides abnormally. In some cases, the tumor cells move to another location and begin growing one or more new tumors, a process which is known as metastasizing. The doctor may feel that the patient may benefit from surgical removal of these extra tumor sites, and this operation is called a metastasectomy.

Basically a cancer is a collection of cells that grow out of control. This abnormal growth can affect the function of the body, and potentially can be lethal. If the presence of a solid cancer is noticed in the early stages, it tends to be more easily treated, as the cells are all present in the same place, and not much damage has been done to the body.

Surgery is only one of the possible treatment options for cancer. Physical removal of the cancer may be suitable for those patients who have tumors with distinct edges and which are in accessible places. If the tumor cells have spread from the initial location to other locations, then the patient's doctor can also consider the possibility of the secondary tumor removal, in a metastasectomy. One major disadvantage to the concept of metastasectomy, however, is the high chance that while the doctor can visually identify some secondary tumors on a scan, others may be in the very early microscopic stages in other parts of the body.

Some people do have cancers that are restricted to specific places, and for these people, a metastasectomy can be very beneficial. For many others, though, a metastasectomy may be only one part of an array of treatments that can help slow and perhaps cure the cancer. Commonly, a systemic treatment, which refers to any treatment that affects tumor cells throughout the body, is used. Chemotherapy is an example of a systemic therapy.

Metastasectomies are unsuitable for certain groups of patients. People who have very serious cancers that have spread throughout the body and have many locations of secondary tumors may not be able to handle a radical metastasectomy which affects many parts of the body. Those with cancers that doctors cannot remove without severely damaging an organ are also typically unsuitable candidates. Finally, people who have a very small chance of surviving the cancer or the metastasectomy operation due to ill-health may make the choice to opt for less traumatic treatments such as radiation.